Devil`s Redemption – A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism

Michael J. McClymond (PhD, University of Chicago) is professor of modern Christianity at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. He is the award-winning author of Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth and Encounters with God: An Approach to the Theology of Jonathan Edwards, and coauthor of The Theology of Jonathan Edwards.

• ContentsVolume 1AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsPrologueIntroduction0.1. Uncovering a Gnostic-Kabbalist-Esoteric Tradition0.2. Linking Esoteric Universalism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam0.3. Two Christian Strands: Origenism and Böhmism0.4. The Theme of Divine Self-Alienation and Self-Return0.5. Contrasts between Esoteric and Exoteric Christian Theologies0.6. Theological Issues: Preexistence, Wisdom, Punishment, and Rationalism0.7. The Late Twentieth-Century Tilt toward Universalism0.8. Divine Drama in Bulgakov, Barth, Balthasar, Tillich, and Moltmann0.9. Scripture, Reason, and Experience in Universalist Argumentation0.10. A Theological Irony: Universalism's Eclipse of Grace1. Final Salvation: Church Teachings and Newer Views1.1. Mainline Protestants: The Turn toward Universalism1.2. Roman Catholics: Traditionalists versus "Hopeful Universalists"1.3. Eastern Orthodoxy: Official Teachings and Private Opinions1.4. Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and Charismatics: Newcomers to Universalism1.5. Should Everyone Be Told? Universalism as a Secret Gospel1.6. Christ's Descent to the Dead and the Larger Hope1.7. The Old Catholic Purgatory and the New1.8. Protestants Debating Hell: From the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries1.9. Recent Catholic Discussions of Death and Hell1.10. British Evangelicals and the Debate over Conditionalism1.11. Summary and Conclusions on Church Teachings2. Ancient Afterlives: The Gnostic, Kabbalist, and Esoteric Roots of Christian Universalism2.1. Near Eastern and Greco-Roman Cultures: From Shadows to Immortal Souls2.2. Jewish Afterlives: Bodies, Souls, Resurrection, and Judgment2.3. Evidence for Second- and Third-Century Gnostic Universalism2.4. Medieval Gnosis: Catharist Universalism2.5. Core Concepts of Kabbalah2.6. Universalist Tendencies in Kabbalah2.7. Early Christian Cabala: Guillaume Postel2.8. Dutch Jews in the 1600s: The Morteira-Aboab Debate on Eternal Punishment2.9. Multilevel Heavens in Swedenborgianism and Mormonism2.10. The Universalism of Sadhu Sundar Singh2.11. Gnostic and Esoteric Models for Reunion with the Divine2.12. Summary and Conclusions on Gnostic, Kabbalistic, and Esoteric Universalisms3. "The End Is Like the Beginning": Origen and Origenism, 200-410 CE3.1. The Modern Rehabilitation of Origen and Origenism3.2. The Question of Origen's Texts3.3. Clement of Alexandria and the Question of Universalism3.4. Origen's Intellectual Backdrop and Cosmic Vision3.5. The Vexatious Issue of Preexistent Souls3.6. Origen's Theology: God, Souls, Angels, Demons, Salvation, and the Eschaton3.7. Origen's Biblical Interpretation and the Cleansing Fire of Conscience3.8. Debated Issues on Origen and the Arguments of the Anti-Origenians3.9. Gregory of Nyssa's Revised Origenism3.10. Final Confluence in Evagrius of Pontus3.11. The First Origenist Controversy, I: Beginnings under Epiphanius3.12. The First Origenist Controversy, II: Conflict in Egypt under Theophilus3.13. The First Origenist Controversy, III: The Jerome-Rufinus Debate3.14. Summary and Conclusions on Origen and Origenism, 200-410 CE4. "That God May Be All in All": Origen and Origenism, 410-1700 CE4.1. Fifth-Century Coptic Anti-Origenism: Shenoute of Atripe4.2. Non-Universalist Syriac Authors: Aphrahat, Ephrem, Isaac of Antioch, and Narsai4.3. Augustine's Conceptual Analysis and Critique of Origen4.4. Hierarchical Neoplatonism: Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite4.5. Stephen bar Sudaili and the Book of the Holy Hierotheos4.6. Bar Sudaili and Thirteenth-Century Mesopotamia: Bar Hebraeus, George Washnaya, and Simon the Persecuted4.7. Sixth-Century Origenism in the Letters of Severus of Antioch and Barsanuphius4.8. Maximus the Confessor's Critique of Origenism4.9. The Universalist Theology of Isaac the Syrian4.10. The Speculative System of John Scotus Eriugena4.11. Thomas Aquinas as a Critic of Origen4.12. Soundings in European Origenism, 1200-1650 CE4.13. Origenism in Seventeenth-Century England: Rust, Parker, and Conway4.14. Origenism's "Swan Song": The Bayle-Le Clerc Exchange4.15. Toward Universalist Rationalism: Andrew Michael Ramsay and David Hartley4.16. Summary and Conclusions on Origen and Origenism, 410-1700 CE5. "In Yes and No All Things Consist": The Theosophic World of Jakob Böhme and the Böhmists of Germany, England, America, France, and Russia5.1. Jakob Böhme: Life and Legend5.2. Divergent Interpretations of Böhme's Thought5.3. An Outline and Summary of Böhme's Theology5.4. The Böhmist Shift to Universalism5.5. Böhmist Receptions: Sectarian, Churchly, Esoteric, Literary, and Philosophical5.6. Johann Georg Gichtel and the Early German Böhmists5.7. Gerrard Winstanley, Jane Lead, and the Philadelphian Movement in England5.8. Johann and Johanna Petersen and German and German-American Pietistic Universalism5.9. British Böhmism: William Law, George MacDonald, Andrew Jukes, and Thomas Erskine5.10. Universalism against a Backdrop of French Illuminism, Esotericism, and Occultism5.11. Martines de Pasqually and the Emergence of French Martinism5.12. Martinism under Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin5.13. The Rise of Russian Böhmism prior to Solovyov5.14. Summary and Conclusions on Böhme and Böhmist Universalism6. A House Divided: The Rise and Fall of the Anglo-American Universalists6.1. Sectarians and Pietists: German Roots of American Universalism6.2. George de Benneville and Paul Siegvolck's Everlasting Gospel6.3. Caleb Rich and Body-Soul Dualism6.4. James Relly and Calvinistic Universalism6.5. John Murray and Rellyan Universalism in America6.6. Elhanan Winchester and Transatlantic Restorationist Universalism6.7. From Calvinism to Universalism to Unitarianism in Britain6.8. Hosea Ballou and the Restorationist Controversy6.9. Internal Tensions and Contradictions in Anglo-American Universalism6.10. Summary and Conclusions on Anglo-American UniversalismVolume 27. German Thinkers: Kant and Müller, Schleiermacher and Hegel, Schelling and Tillich7.1. The Kantian Legacy of Transcendental Selfhood7.2. Müller's Quasi-Origenist Non-universalism7.3. Schleiermacher on Universal Election and Human Solidarity7.4. Hegel as Rationalist and Esotericist7.5. Hegel and the Consummation of Absolute Spirit7.6. A Theological Critique of Hegel's Thought7.7. Schelling's Speculative Reinterpretation of Creation, Fall, and Redemption7.8. Tillich's "Half-Way Demythologization" of the Fall and Restoration of Souls7.9. Summary and Conclusions on German Thinkers8. Russian Thinkers: Solovyov, Berdyaev, Florovsky, and Bulgakov8.1. The Russian Background, I: Orthodoxy, Idealism, and Böhmism8.2. The Russian Background, II: Freemasonry and Esotericism8.3. Vladimir Solovyov and the Roots of Russian Sophiology8.4. Solovyov's Universalist Vision of "All-Unity"8.5. Nicolas Berdyaev and Hell's Irresolvable Paradoxes8.6. The Metaphysical Foundations of Sergius Bulgakov's Dogmatics8.7. Bulgakov and Florovsky in the Sophiological Debate8.8. Bulgakov's The Bride of the Lamb and the Arguments for Universalism8.9. Summary and Conclusions on Russian Thinkers9. Debating Universal Election: Karl Barth, Barth's Interpreters, Jürgen Moltmann, and the Post-1970s Kenotic-Relational Theologies9.1. Interpretive Prologue: Post-1960s Interpretations of Barth's Theology9.2. Biographical Prologue: Barth and the Hellfire Preacher in 19169.3. Barth on Election: An Overview9.4. Barth on Israel's Election and the Jewish People9.5. Barth on Election in the New Testament and Christian Tradition9.6. Barth on the Logos Asarkos and Eternal Godmanhood9.7. Barth on Nothingness (das Nichtige) and the "Impossibility" of Sin9.8. Barth's Interpreters on the Question of Universalism9.9. Barth's Ambiguous Legacy: From the 1950s to the 1980s9.10. Jürgen Moltmann and the God-with-Us in Suffering9.11. Evaluating Moltmann's Universalist Theology9.12. The Rise of Kenotic-Relational Theologies since the 1990s9.13. Apocalypse Now: Congdon's Neo-Bultmannian Universalism9.14. Summary and Conclusions on Barth, Moltmann, and Post-1970s Theologies10. Embracing Universal Hope: Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and the Inclusivist, Plurocentrist, and Universalist Turns in Roman Catholicism10.1. Henri de Lubac and Catholic Debates on Nature and Grace10.2. Karl Rahner's "Anonymous Christians" and Post-Vatican II Theology10.3. The Ambitious and Ambiguous Cosmology of Teilhard de Chardin10.4. The Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar: A General Sketch10.5. Balthasar's Roots: Church Fathers, Russian Thinkers, and Karl Barth10.6. Balthasar's Theological Relation to Adrienne von Speyr10.7. Balthasar's Theo-drama and the Idea of Urkenosis10.8. Balthasar on Eschatology Generally10.9. Balthasar's Dare We Hope? and Universal Salvation10.10. Summary and Conclusions on Roman Catholicism and Universalism11. New Theologies in the New Millennium: The Variety of Contemporary Universalisms11.1. Character of the New Millennium Universalist Literature11.2. Liberal and Esoteric Universalism: Gulley, Mulholland, and Pearson11.3. The Philosophical Universalism of Thomas Talbott11.4. The Evangelical Universalism of Robin Parry11.5. Evangelical Revisionism in Frank, Bell, and Kruger11.6. Pentecostal Preachers of Grace: Dunn, du Toit, Rabe, and Crowder11.7. Summary and Conclusions on Contemporary Universalisms12. The Eclipse of Grace: An Appraisal of Christian Universalism12.1. The Cumulative Argument: A Survey of Preceding Chapters12.2. The Problem of God in Christian Universalism12.3. The Problem of Grace in Christian Universalism12.4. The Problem of Belief in Christian Universalism12.5. Christian Universalism and the Challenge of Evil12.6. Christian Particularism and the Call to HopeAppendix A: Gnosis and Western Esotericism: Definitions and LineagesAppendix B: Zoroastrian EschatologyAppendix C: Anti-Origenist Declarations in the Early Church: From Alexandria, Jerusalem, Rome, and ConstantinopleAppendix D: Ramelli's The Christian Doctrine of Apokatastasis (2013)Appendix E: The Sefiroth: A Kabbalistic DiagramAppendix F: Universal Salvation in Islamic TeachingIslamic Eschatology and Qur'anic TeachingPhilosophical Foundations in Ibn al-'ArabiHell's Cooling and Final Salvation in Ibn al-'ArabiThe Universalistic Theology of Jalal al-Din RumiThe Jurist Ibn Taymiyya and His Pupil Ibn QayyimAppendix G: Types of Christian UniversalismAppendix H: The Cosmic Saga: An Esoteric ViewAppendix I: Ultra-Dispensational UniversalismAppendix J: Words and Concepts for Time and EternityAppendix K: Mormon Teachings on God, Cosmos, and SalvationAppendix L: Barth and Bultmann on Romans 5Index of Ancient SourcesIndex of Subjects